1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of communications and, more specifically, to methods and systems for providing electronic communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today there are numerous types of electronic or electronic assisted communication systems that include, for example, radio, television, cable, internet, two-way radio, cellular telephone systems, LANS, WANS, and optical communication systems. Many of these systems may employ various types of signal amplifiers and filters in their receivers that have a particular performance capability to support today's use and traffic requirements. However, these electronic communication systems will likely experience increased communication information use and traffic in the future that will require better signal amplifiers and filters beyond their present capability and the systems would thus benefit from incorporating system designs and components that are easily and cost effectively upgradeable to accommodate the additional use and traffic.
For example, to provide cost effective and reliable system deployment, wireless communication service providers often utilize signal amplifiers at the receiver front end to boost received signal. This approach improves overall receiver sensitivity and radio link margin. In addition, wireless service providers often find it advantageous to use signal filtering at the receiver front end to improve channel selectivity and noise rejection, suppress cross channel interference, and maintain a high sensitivity even in the presence of out of band interference.
Presently, wireless communication operators must choose between higher cost High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) based receiver front ends and conventional filter plus Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) products. In the presence of electromagnetic interference, low noise conventional products may not provide sufficient filtering to protect the noise floor of the base station from increasing. In such cases, the conventional receiver front end systems must be replaced with better performance systems such as, for example, an HTS based system, that provide greater sensitivity, greater selectivity, or a combination thereof. However, replacing a conventional receiver front end with a receiver front end including HTS typically results in the wasteful practice of disposing of all or most of the components and housing of the conventional receiver front end.